The Great Toothpaste Challenge

People always joke about how newly weds would fight over which is the best (and only) way to squeeze toothpaste out of the tube.

Fortunately for my wife and I, we have no such disagreement. We however, have a “contest” of another sort: we challenge each other to see who can squeeze the last bit of toothpaste out of the grossly flattened (and re-flattened) tube without having to use a new tube.

As of this morning, I was still winning. Let’s see if I see a new tube at the sink tonight! Heehee…

Feel the Earth Move

More people than usual were out for lunch today. And by any chance, they stayed out, thanks to earthquake tremors 10 mins before noon.

I was on the phone with a client then, when my boss freaked out upon feeling the building swaying. I didn’t really feel anything, but she was so spooked that she decided she should just pack up her laptop and go for an early lunch. (Well, she’s the boss after all!) Anyway, she called 5 minutes later and called us to do the same… go for lunch early and then stay near the vicinity after that… just make sure we come back to the office after some time.

It was all quite funny because while she was worried our old office building would fold on us, none of the rest of us appeared concerned at all. Later we heard that the tremors were from a 6.6 magnitude earthquake at nearby Sumatra.

Well, we did leave the office earlier than usual. My colleagues went for lunch, while I went to a nearby salon to cut my hair. It was quite nice, actually, to go for a haircut during lunchtime. There was hardly a queue at the salon, and for $35, you get a haircut, your hair washed and scalp massaged, a nice cup of camomile tea and a bowl of salad (which I refused).

It was almost sad to leave the place, and back to work at the office…

Doing the Right Thing

I witnessed a crime in action this morning while on my way to work… it was just there, right before me.

Yet I did nothing. I just saw it unfold before me and continued on my way to the office.

After that, my heart was racing and I was scolding myself for not having that courage to confront the crime. I mentally went through all the things that I should have done, but did not.

Dirty Linen

It’s just weird when SUDDENLY everyone starts visiting and commenting on my blog. Looks like people DO read my posts but need such emotional, highly-charged posts to stir them to replying?

Does it mean I’ll have to keep posting ‘dirty linen’ type entries in order to see some sort of response?

Hmm…

Grossed Out

I may sound mean saying this, but for goodness sake, don’t go around flaunting your flabby belly! I mean, I was totally grossed out this morning on my way to work. I was sitting down, facing the exposed belly of this woman standing in front of me throughout half the journey and it was indeed one of the worst ways you can start your day.

Not only was her flabby belly exposed beneath her mid-drift t-shirt, she was leaning against the vertical grab pole, further accentuating the ungainly sight.

Can’t get any worse? Wrong. I later spotted HAIR growing on the region around the belly button!

GROSS!

New Year Resolutions

I finally made a trip down to the post office to renew my PDL. Next step is to call up that driving instructor and set up my next driving lesson (after explaining why I went “missing” for more than a year!).

Well, at least I met my goal of getting a valid PDL by the end of February! Next target: Get my driving license in ONE test!

Vroom! Vroom!

Not Reading Enough

I was recently chastised for not reading my wife’s blog often enough.

“Have you read my blog?” and “What is my latest post about?” she would test.

Of course, I failed miserably (otherwise, you would never see such a post here!), not because I haven’t been reading her blog, but simply because I haven’t been there (and leaving comments) as often as she would would have liked.

Not to mention I couldn’t recall what was in the last post I read there. (Heck, I can’t even remember what I wrote in my own blog!)

And so there I was, chided for not showing enough concern and love, which was evaluated by how often one visits her site!

Now if that is a fair way of gauging one’s love for you, then I would be among the most unloved person around. Just look through the entries here! I get the most (and the only) comments for putting up disgusting posts about boiling lizards. And even when I write about how I was cursed on Chinese New Year, the only comment I got was a curt retort from a friend! No one had a kind word to say. Nobody even bothered to say, “hey, it’s ok!” Where then is the love?

So much for judging how much someone loves you based on the blog’s guestbook. Hrmmph!

Sleepless Nights

Baby doesn’t seem to want to sleep these days. Even after we coaxed her to sleep and put her in the cot, she will wake up again after 5, 10 minutes and start crying.

Last night was the worst yet. It wasn’t even that bad when she was a newborn! No matter how we tried to coax her to sleep, she simply refused to even lie down. My mother of course, couldn’t bear to see her screaming and crying her eyes out (daddy and mommy were relatively heartless… and helpless) and so tried ways and means to soothe her, to no avail.

Daddy and mommy then tried the let-her-cry-till-she’s-tired tack, thinking she’s just “hong-sim” and throwing tantrums because she wants to play some more. That, of course, didn’t really work either. It’s just too heart-wrenching to see baby cry like that!

And so it all turned out like some intergenerational staring game, where the one who gives in first loses.

The final results by 1.30am?

First: Daddy (the most heartless and helpless one)
Second: Mommy (the more helpless than heartless one)
Third: My mum (the somewhat helpless and least heartless one)

Education Leads Not to Moralilty

A friend sent me a link to a story that appeared in the New Paper on 17/18 February.

It’s heartbreaking to read that there can actually be people like that in our affluent society. But then again, morality has nothing to do with education. After all, which subject in school these days teach you that you must take care of your parents when they grow old?

“CME!” some would readily quip. But do these lessons really? More often than not, Civics and Moral Education classes are just a convenient excuse used by the ignorant majority to console themselves that all is not lost, as far as morals are concerned. For the record, there is NOTHING in there that teaches anyone those values.

Boiled Lizards, Anyone?

My wife doesn’t dislike lizards. She HATES them! And so as if there was such a clause in the marriage vow, I have become the de facto lizard slayer in the house. Woe to all lizards then she sets her eyes upon because they must all DIE. (Hmm… like Medusa?)

Anyway, I tried to save one such poor lizard recently by dismissively saying that it “escaped” out of the house through the windows or something like that. But Medusa would have none of that, which was just too bad for the leathery creature because she spotted it again the next day - in the bedroom toilet!

Just too bad. Last night I had the “honour” of chasing the lizard into the shower screen before boiling it to death with the heated water from the shower.

Well, at least it died intact… it even had its tail still on when I picked up the pale, mushy lump from the steamy bathroom floor.

(I forgot to take a picture of it until I flushed it down the bowl… Pity! I shall do that next time! Lizards beware!)

Cursed on Chinese New Year

Thank God I’m not a superstitious person and don’t really care much about being cursed on a supposedly auspicious day. Instead I’m sad that people can actually be so unreasonable!

My wife and I (and baby too) were trying to flag a cab to my mom’s place on the first day of the Lunar New Year. We were there for almost 10 minutes when this family of four came along, saw us along the road and deliberately went further up the same road and started flagging for a cab! I would have been less peeved if they had at least bothered to go much further to commit this heinous deed, but they simply did so no more than 30 metres away!

After confirming that they were also flagging for a cab (and not waiting for a car to pick them up), I went up to the daughter (presumably) and told her that we’ve been waiting for a long while for a cab too and that they should respect the queue if they wanted to get a taxi.

Minutes later, the whole family walked back towards us and the “mum” was scolding the “son” for relenting, mumbling stuff like “then how about yourself?” and “then kick him out lah!”, obviously making references to me. As they were walking away, the mum raised her voice even louder and cursed, saying, “here where got cab? You won’t get a cab also lah, stupid!”

I must say I was quite taken aback, not so much by her words, but by how rude and uncivilised Singaporeans can be!

Anyway, God must have been miffed by the whole ordeal because our cab came along, less than a minute after that woman hurled her abuse. We had the last laugh after all! Ha!

New Look!

Somehow, I love this new template! Its black and green accents look great! I think it’s a new template because I don’t remember having seen it before…

Anyway, that green top bar picture is from my own photo collection. Matches nicely, huh?

The Faith Paradox

Had an interesting online chat with a friend yesterday about the issue of having a faith in life.

She commented that she would only place her faith in something she can “totally believe in”. And therein lies the faith paradox: if you can already believe in something totally, how much of this belief is actually faith?

Faith is defined by the bible as “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Heb 11:1) Faith is only faith when applied to something we cannot be sure of, yet believe exists, isn’t it? For example, if I totally believe that I’m male, then I won’t be going around saying, “I have faith that I’m male” simply because I AM!

So many people choose to live according to their own conscience, which unfortunately varies from individual to individual. Best intentions do not always lead to the best of decisions. I’m sure Bush was not plotting to get those young American soldiers killed in Iraq, but they died nonetheless. And I’m sure Osama knew hundreds, if not thousands would die when he flew two planes into the twin towers. But he did it anyway, simply because he believed he was right in doing so!

So you see, living by our own conscience can be tricky at times. The scariest part about this is that we won’t know how wrong we have been, because we believed that we can do anything as long as our conscience is clear.

Sure beats Christians who don’t practise what they preach? Not quite. At the end of the day, Christianity is not about doing everything right. It’s about admitting we can’t, and that we need God to make up for what we fail to do. It’s about knowing God and relying on Him because we can’t do it by our own strength. It’s about confessing that our own individual yardsticks of morality, of what is right or wrong, can never measure up to what God had expected of us.

Lastly and most importantly, it’s about realizing that God in His wisdom and grace, has already made that provision for our inability to meet His standards by the blood of His Son.

True Wisdom and Understanding

We are all very familiar with the story of how Solomon asked God for wisdom instead of wealth, power or long life, and in so doing, pleased God tremendously and earned himself an extensive mention in the bible.

And so Solomon asked God to make him the smartest man on earth. Or did he?

In 1 Kings 3:9, Solomon said, “Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?”

Solomon did not ask for a clever mind. He asked for an understanding heart. He did not ask to become a genius. He asked to be the most discerning ruler of his generation.

And how often do we fail to see things the way Solomon did? We try to hide behind our well-thought-out plans and schedules. We find comfort in the knowledge of our achievements, triumphs and academic qualifications. We take pride in our own little talents, skills and ingenuity. We may even assure ourselves of salvation with the knowledge we have of God and His word.

But sadly, all these are not what God was looking for. Like his father David, Solomon understood God’s heart and sought to be someone who pursued a pure heart, not a spotless, victorious life. He recognised that God looks not at our achievements, but judges us by our hearts.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that we should stop seeking to live pure and spotless lives. I’m not saying that it’s not important to gain knowledge and skills, to put our talents to good use, or to pursue recognition and stature in the secular. Yet, we need to recognise that the ONLY way to do so and please God at the same time, is to do it the way Solomon did.

A pure and well-intentioned heart that seeks to please God should be the foundation of whatever we do and seek in life. It is on such a foundation that God grants us our dreams and desires.

“Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.” Psa 37:4

Now You Know Why

I’m currently working on a project (read Government campaign) to encourage Singaporeans to stay married. Apparently the rising divorce figures are scaring the pants off someone up there.

One wonders about the reasons behind such a social phenomenon. Many would be quick to point the accusing finger on the ill effects of westernisation. Most others would point to the media, which has been unabashedly bringing in controversial moral values through popular shows like Desperate Housewives, Friends and Temptation Island, just to name a few.

Local media has largely stayed off that track. Or has it? Consider the following ad my colleague spotted on Singapore Women’s Weekly:

Slowly and very subtly, the minds of our young women are being whitewashed and replaced with sub-conscious notions of what fidelity is about. To the self-professed “liberal-minded” female out there, who might feel like defending the ad as upholding an individual right of women, consider this: how would you feel if we gender-switch the ad to say something like “Actually she’s my girlfriend. My daughter is slightly older”?